Day 2 of June 2022 Trip to California, Pacific Coast Highway from Monterey to Cambria

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The second day of my June 2022 trip to California, we drove from Monterey to Cambria, through the most scenic section of California’s Pacific Coast Highway.

Rugged Coastline

The Big Sur region, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, was arguably the most scenic of California’s coastline, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean, resulting in some dramatic views.
Apart from sprinkles of hotels and restaurants, the ~90-mile road between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon followed a pristine and largely undeveloped coastline. With no appropriate overnight lodging along the way, we decided to spend the night in the town of Cambria (a few miles south of San Simeon), which meant we had a relatively long day ahead of us.

Monterey Peninsula

Given the delays we experienced the previous day, our day began with (the free portions of) Monterey’s coastline.

First, we checked out Lover’s Point (p3-5 below). Frankly, I couldn’t find anything romantic about the place to match its name. (It’s not like the rest of 17-Mile drive where “lovers” could sit and watch the ocean extending to infinity, just like how they envision their “love” would be.) Since it’s located in a denser, more populated part of Monterey, I even guessed it’s so named because the average “lovers” didn’t have the means to access the wealthy and exclusive (and arguably better) part of Monterey coastline (the private properties of 17-Mile Drive), and had to settle for here (something like a Cinderella story).
It turned out the place was first called “Lovers of Jesus Point” back when the area was a Methodist retreat camp. Well, I would say it’s a rather misleading abbreviation.

Interesting Car on Monterey Street

Somehow, this open-air car was a three-seater. (I could hardly think of any scenario when a third person would be willing to sit in the back, facing backwards.) It even got a Ferrari logo.
Interesting Car
Half an hour later, we ran into that same interesting car at Lover’s Point.
Beach at Lover’s Point Park
Beach at Lover’s Point Park
Boulders along Shore

After that, we continued driving around Monterey Peninsula, with its low-lying and rugged coastline, just like the previous day through the (fee part of) 17-Mile Drive.

Small Cove
Islet
Birds Resting on Coastal Rocks
Waves Pounding Shore
Coastline
Waves off Asilomar State Beach
Asilomar State Beach

Point Lobos

After leaving Monterey, our first stop was Point Lobos. To me it’s a bit of everything, a rugged peninsula, a marine habitat, and some historic relics. To summarize, it’s like a miniature version of Big Sur.

Inside Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, we first checked out Whalers Cove, one of the larger coves in the vicinity. Whaling was conducted in the region in the late 19th century, with a cabin/museum nearby (which we didn’t visit) showcasing the history.
It felt to me that the cove was covered in sea weeds (p1-3 below) and not suitable for navigation, at least, without whalers actively cleaning them up.
It also offered us the final sights of Carmel Bay before we headed south.

Whalers Cove
Whalers Cove
Coal Chute Point across Whalers Cove
Some visitors visible.
Big Dome Mountain across Bluefish Cove
Rocks off Canary Point
Rocks off Canary Point

Ocean from Whalers Cove

Unfortunately, after that, we only found parking at Weston Beach inside the Natural Reserve, so we checked it out. The seas were relatively calm here, so my friends went searching for marine life, and they were quite fruitful (p3-6 below).

Coastline
Boulders along Coastline
Sea Life
Like a starfish, only that it had 4 arms instead of 5.
Crab
Sea Urchins
Crab
It’s very hard to focus under water.

China Lookout

This was one of the roadside turnouts after leaving Point Lobos. The wild colors of grass complemented the palette in sight.
Unfortunately, the wind was strong and as a result, I lost my camera’s lens cap here. 🫨

Hills along Pacific Coast
Rocks off Coast
Cove
I liked the blend of colors here.

Soberanes Point

This was on a small hill, accessed by a 300m one-way trail with about 30m elevation gain. Parking was limited at its two trailheads, but this wasn’t as popular as some of the other turnouts as we had no trouble parking. At its top, it properly overlooked the coastline to the north, and I was fond of the yellow flowers that decorated the landscape (p1 below). Wind was very strong on top of the hill, so we didn’t linger there for long.

Shores beyond Flowery Hill
Coastline
Coastline
Coastline

After that, I tried mounting a GoPro on the side window of the car, facing the ocean. Here’s a clip that it captured from approximately Bixby Bridge to Big Sur.

9 minutes and 5 seconds, 2160p30fps, H265 only, 8Mbps/576MB. Bixby Bridge crossing at around 1:23, thumbnail of Bixby Bridge view at around 3:04.

Bixby Bridge

Next we made a stop before crossing Bixby Bridge, arguably the most iconic bridge of California’s Pacific Coast Highway. When completed in 1932, it was the highest single-span arch bridge in the world. There was a turnout at its northern end, where people could admire its majesty against the soaring cliffs in its background.

Bixby Bridge
Cliffs along Coast
Cliffs along Coast
Rock Arch
Cove by Kasler Point
Coastal Road
Point Sur

Not long after leaving Bixby Bridge, the road briefly headed inlands as we approached the town of Big Sur. This was the most developed area between Carmel and San Simeon, featuring “a few” restaurants and hotels, so we decided to have lunch here.

Lunch
At “Big Sur Roadhouse”, one that only served breakfast and lunch.

Pfeiffer Beach

After lunch, we decided to check out Pfeiffer Beach, which was known for its unique pink/purple-colored sands and arches in the sea.

The 2-mile-long access road to Pfeiffer Beach was paved but in poor condition, it was also narrow that required frequency stopping to accommodate oncoming traffic.

In the end, this was probably the least memorable part of the day. My friends and I identified an opening in one boulder closest to the parking lot (p1 below), not knowing that we needed to head a few more steps north to see the opening/arch that Pfeiffer Beach was known for (that one was completely in the ocean, with no other boulders in front of it obstructing the view). Furthermore, I wouldn’t describe the sand here as “pink” (p4 below), not under the bright midday sun.

Boulder at Pfeiffer Beach
Waves Pounding Pfeiffer Beach
Pfeiffer Beach
Pink Sand at Pfeiffer Beach
Under the midday sun, it took my best postprocessing to make the sand look pink.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park

After leaving Pfeiffer Beach, there were a few notable roadside turnouts in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. This time, the rugged coastline was accompanied by layers of mountains rising above it, with thin fogs adding to the allure of the scene.

Rugged Coastline
Coastline with Thin Fog
Rock Arch in Partington Cove
Coves
Rocks along Shore
Rugged Coastline
Rugged Coastline
Rock Arch in Ocean

A highlight of the park was McWay Falls, a 24m-tall waterfall along the coast. Depending on the tide, it falls either onto the beach or the ocean. Its viewpoint was accessed from the parking lot via a short 500m trail. During our visit, the last part of the trail was closed for maintenance, but that did not affect us viewing the waterfall.

McWay Cove
McWay Cove
Saddle Rock in McWay Cove
McWay Falls

It’s already 5pm and on the map, we weren’t even halfway between Monterey and Cambria. With the best of Big Sur behind us, we hastened our pace with fewer stops along the way.

Coastline with Erosion
Coastline
Rocky Peninsula
Distant Coastline in Fog
Foggy Coastline
Cape San Martin
Cove

Glittering Sea from Willow Creek Viewpoint

Coastal Road
Boulders and Cliffs along Coast
Coastline
Boulders along Coastline
Road
One of the few stretches of straights.
Distant Piedras Blancas Light Station
Contour of Distant Piedras Blancas Light Station

Between McWay Cove and Cambria, I used a windshield-mounted GoPro to capture the views along the way. Here’s a timelapse video:

0:00 The video starts shortly after leaving McWay Cove.
3:37 Big Creek Bridge
7:03 Tunnel before Limekiln State Park
10:05 A roadside turnout between Wild Cattle Creek and Prewitt Creek where we stopped and appreciated the views.
10:55 Plaskett. A small town along CA-1.
12:13 Willow Creek Vista Point. View of Cape San Martin.
20:32 Ragged Point. A small town along CA-1.
24:52 Elephant Seal Vista Point outside San Simeon.
26:14 Moonstone Beach Dr of Cambria. This video ends soon after that as we arrived at our hotel.

Elephant Seal Vista Point

Before San Simeon, a beach served as a native habitat for a large group of elephant seals. Their numbers were so large that a boardwalk/vista was constructed so people could view them at relatively close range.

During our visit, I found most of the elephant seals sunbathing on the beach (at least I didn’t find any in the ocean). It could be that this was their molting season when they shed their fur, which could only happen on land.

Elephant Seal
This one seemed to notice my presence by staring at me.
Elephant Seal
Elephant Seal Asleep
I liked this facial expression.
Elephant Seal
Elephant Seal Digging Sand
I don’t know what’s the point of doing this.
Elephant Seals

In particular, I found this pair of elephant seals were rather interested in body contact with each other. I didn’t know whether they were hugging or fighting each other.

Elephant Seals
These two were either hugging or fighting each other.
Elephant Seals
These two were either hugging or fighting each other.
Elephant Seals
These two were either hugging or fighting each other.
Elephant Seals
These two were either hugging or fighting each other.
Elephant Seals
These two were either hugging or fighting each other.
Elephant Seals
These two were either hugging or fighting each other.

We reached our overnight hotel (Sea Otter Inn) just past 7pm. This one was located in Cambria’s coastal area, along Moonstone Beach Dr. The road had ocean on one side and an array of hotels on the other, where the hotels weren’t too different from each other, as if created by the “duplicate” tool in city building simulation games.

Hotel Room
Hotel Room

Dinner

After settling down in the hotel, we headed to downtown Cambria for dinner. It’s past 8pm so we went for one of the few restaurants that were open, and was one of the last groups of patrons for the day.

Twilight over Horizon

After getting back to the hotel, some of my friends fancy a stroll along the coast, amid the never-ending sound of waves pounding the coastline, and the final glow of light dissolving into the distant horizon. A tranquilizing end to a packed day.

END

Day 2 of June 2022 Trip to California, Pacific Coast Highway from Monterey to Cambria by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Category: June 2022, California, Travel Tags: Bixby Bridge, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Pfeiffer Beach, Point Lobos, Soberanes Point

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